


Unsolved: Parenting

by Kyraneedsanap



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Eventual Smut, M/M, domestic AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-19 10:48:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17599892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyraneedsanap/pseuds/Kyraneedsanap
Summary: Shane Madej is a single father to a son named Brent. His son shares his affinity for realism, and not believing a lick in ghosts or any supernatural beings. Thus, Shane has no reservations spewing gruesome ghost/horror stories into the ears of his five year old. And in turn Brent has no issue repeating these same stories to his kindergarten class. Of course, the other children are much more impressionable, and it isn’t long before his teacher, Ryan Bergara, begins to hear complaints from students and parents about the terror this child had struck into his classmates. Ryan asks Brent who told him these stories and the boy admits that it was his father, seeming unconcerned that his bedtime stories would revolve around murder and haunting. Ryan is then tasked with setting a meeting and discussing the impacts of these stories on both Brent and his classmates. However, once they meet in person, Ryan has a little trouble keeping his focus.





	1. A Goatman?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all plz be nice to me this is my first fic  
> hope you enjoy!

            Brent Medej was a small, chubby, painfully shy child. He had messy brown hair, and big brown eyes that constantly seemed to be silently begging for help. These features attributed to the fact that he had a great deal of trouble relating to his peers. It was for these reasons that when Ryan Bergara, kindergarten teacher at Buzz-Friends Elementary, noticed Brent was receiving much more attention than normal he felt a sense of pride. However, that pride was crushed when he received a frantic call from an upset parent.

              The call came from the mother of a student named Kelsey Impicciche. The woman explained that her daughter was sobbing after a nightmare in which the Goatman was coming after her.

              “Goatman…?” Ryan repeated in dismay. He certainly wasn’t teaching a group of kindergarteners about any Goatmen.

              “Goatman!!! Yes, Mr. Bergara, my daughter is crying over a Goatman! She said she learned about it from one of her classmates.” Mrs. Impicciche stated.

              It dawned on Ryan then, that that was why Brent had suddenly gotten so popular. Ryan sighed heavily.

              “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Impicciche. I’ll discuss this with the child and their father.” Ryan was careful to leave out names, just in case it wasn’t Brent.

              “Thank you, Mr. Bergara. Just make sure this is taken care of.” And with that she hung up.

              Ryan sighed again.

              The following day Ryan waited until the children had settled into their morning activities before he approached Brent.

              “Hey there, Madej.” He murmured, crouching down next to the boy. “How’s it going?”

              Brent stared up at Ryan with his terrified eyes. “Hi Mr. B, look, I wrote my name!”

              Ryan grinned at the boy’s scrawling handwriting. “That looks great, Brent. You even did it without the lines!”

              Brent beamed in response.

              “Hey, Brent, I have a question for you.” Ryan began, waiting for Brent to give him his full attention. “Have you been telling any stories to the other kids?”

              Chewing the inside of his cheek, the boy suddenly refused to meet Ryan’s gaze.

              “It’s okay if you have. I just wanted to know where you were hearing them.”

              The hesitation continued for another moment before Brent replied. “It’s okay because it’s not real! My daddy says it’s not real!”

              Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Is it your dad who’s telling you these stories?” He had a hard time understanding what responsible parent would tell his child stories like that.

              Brent nodded solemnly.

              That was going to be a fun phone call.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

              Ryan Bergara sat at his desk just after the last student had departed. He stared at the list of phone numbers in front of him, his eyes immediately seeking out the last name Madej. He realized then that he had never actual been introduced to the man, as his son was always picked up with another student, by a family friend. That boded well.

              He dialed, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes as he pressed call. He held his breath as the phone rang.

              “Hello?” A deep voice, with an accent that Ryan couldn’t quite place, answered.

              “Hi, is this Mr. Madej?”

              “Yes, this is he.”

              “Awesome,” Ryan internal groaned at himself. “This is Mr. Bergara, from Buzz-Friends Elementary. I’m Brent’s teacher.”

              There was a pregnant pause. “Is everything okay?” The amount of stress present in Mr. Madej’s voice was almost endearing.

              “Yes! Well… Um, not exactly. Nothing is necessarily wrong, but I was wondering if you could come in for a meeting sometime this week? There’s something I want to discuss with you.” Ryan attempted to phrase it in the least stress-inducing way he could.

              “Yeah, of course.”

              If only Ryan knew what he was getting himself into.

 

              Shane Madej was trying his best to get as much work done as possible before his son returned home from school. He was forever thankful that Stephen and Andrew agreed to pick Brent up when they picked up their son Adam.

              Shane was a journalist. He was generally tasked with covering stories on the most recent violent crimes. They were his specialty. However, that meant that when writing his editorials, he had to be careful to ensure that he wasn’t overly blasé or insensitive. But he also had to cover the stories thoroughly.

Shane had almost finished a whole paragraph of the case he was writing on when his phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Mr. Madej?” Shane rolled his eyes and groaned internally. What could be so important that they interrupted him?

“Yes, this is he.”

“Awesome, this is Mr. Bergara, from Buzz-Friends Elementary. I’m Brent’s teacher.”

Shane felt his heart drop into his stomach. The last thing he ever wanted was to hear from his son’s teacher. He knew he wasn’t father of the year, but he was doing his best as a single father.

“Is everything okay?” He blurted out after realizing he had been quiet for a moment too long. 

Shane felt himself zoning out slightly as Mr. Bergara dodged around whatever the actual problem was, but he caught the word ‘meeting’. He immediately agreed, wanting to do anything he could to help his son.

“Wonderful,” Mr. Bergara said. “Just come in anytime after school gets out and we can talk.”

Shane nodded even though his conversational counterpart couldn’t see it. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” He hung his head slightly, feeling the weight of all his stress hit him full force. This was going to be a long week.


	2. Look so Perfect Sitting There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I just like hurting Shane for some reason  
> also this is absolutely filler sorry y'all  
> chapter title is a vague 5sos reference I guess

               Shane’s week only got longer when he realized that with a deadline coming up, he wasn’t going to be able to make it into his son’s school until Friday. He had explained all this to his son’s teacher. Mr. Bergara had seemed understanding, but Shane remained unconvinced that he wasn’t the worst father in all the world.

               Friday rolled around in an odd blur. Shane felt pressured to act normal around Brent until he at least knew what the problem was. And Brent seemed entirely unaware that there was a problem at all.

              With all this in mind Shane felt an immeasurable sense of dread as he approached the front door of the school. He couldn’t help but wonder what all the faculty were thinking as he walked in, signing in awkwardly. It was his first time in the school all. Shane wasn’t proud of that fact. He desperately wished he had the time to drop off and pick up his child every day. Unfortunately, he just wasn’t able to do that for Brent.

              Shane’s sense of dread only heightened as he made his way to the classroom. As he walked, he scanned the walls, covered in artwork of the various students. He searched for his son’s name. He spotted one, near the door to Brent’s classroom. The banner above the corkboard read: “A Superhero in my Life!” Most of the children had drawn pictures of their mother’s or fathers, there were even a few big brothers. Brent’s was a crudely drawn image of Steven Lim-Ilnyckyj. “ _Because he picks me up every day!”_ The childish handwriting near the bottom stated. Shane was pretty sure his heart shattered.

              As low as it had been at the start, Shane’s confidence had only dropped as he finally reached the classroom. He glanced in through the window. It was easy to seek out Brent, as he was the only child still present.

              “ _Nice going, Shane. Be late the only time you’ve ever picked him up. No wonder you’re not his superhero.”_

              Shane knocked lightly on the door before entering, feeling utterly unprepared. The knock went unheard, but Shane pushed forward regardless.

              Brent’s head snapped up as soon as he heard the door. As he laid eyes on his father he stood up and launched himself over.

              “Daddy! Daddy! It’s your first time in my classroom! Wanna see my seat? It’s purple! I wish it was blue, but Keith has the blue chair at my table already and he really likes blue too so it’s okay.”

              Shane’s grinned down at his son, allowing the small boy to grab at his hand and drag him toward one of the many little round tables.

              The classroom was about as typical as an elementary school classroom could be. The walls were a nice sky blue, and most of the furniture was a light-colored wood. The tables were round, each with five chairs, each one a different color. There were sheer, rainbow colored curtains, muting the bright afternoon sun.

              Brent led him to the table closest to the teacher’s desk, babbling energetically about which seat was his (the one with his nametag.) The teacher’s desk caught more of Shane’s attention than it should have. To be more specific, it wasn’t the desk, it was the man sitting behind it.

              Behind the desk sat the man who Shane assumed was Mr. Bergara. Mr. Bergara was watching the pair with a warm smile on his face. Although, Shane was actually certain that that face was not capable of making any unpleasant expressions.

              “Hi there, I’m guessing you’re Brent’s father?” Mr. Bergara’s voice was warm too, soft and smooth. He sounded much better in person than over the phone. Shane was content to ignore how weird that thought seemed.

              “Uh, yeah, I am.” Shane groaned internally at his lame reply.

              Mr. Bergara seemed unbothered. “I’ll let Brent show you around a little bit, and then we can proceed. I know he’s very excited. Isn’t that right, Brent?”

              Brent nodded so hard it shook his whole body.

              Shane grinned, glancing between the two of them. “Alright, sounds good to me.”

              Brent then proceeded to shuttle Shane around the whole room, showing him where he usually played in the morning, where he sat at snack and lunch, where he sat for carpet/story time, et cetera. Shane ooh’d and ah’d everywhere he found appropriate.

              Once Brent had exhausted every one of his seats in the classroom, he asked his father if he could go back to playing with his dinosaurs.

              Shane chuckled. “Of course, buddy. I’ll just be over there talking to Mr. Bergara, okay? Make sure you clean up before you play with anything else.”  Then he stooped and kissed the top of Brent’s head.

              Brent rolled his eye’s and scrunched his nose. “I’m just gonna play with the dinosaurs.” He said like it was the most obvious fact in the world.

              Shane laughed again, replying with a simple “Okay.” Before turning back to where Mr. Bergara was sitting, hunched over a planner that appeared to have kittens on it.

              That man was ridiculously cute. How could he look so perfect just sitting there? It heightened Shane's nerve by a thousand. He took a deep breath, pushing aside his weird attraction to his son's teacher, and made his way to the desk.

 


	3. All Like, Whatever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan is a shy bean. Shane is doing his best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long, I just started a new job and also I just procrastinate all the time so lmao  
> but at least they actually interact irl here!!! small plot development!!

Ryan looked up from his lesson planning (aka: his pretending to lesson plan whilst watching an attractive (single?) father traipse around the classroom, led by his son.) as Mr. Madej approached his desk. Ryan gestured to the seat in front of him.

              It was admittedly amusing watching the tall man attempt to confine all his limbs into the uncomfortable, plastic chair that Ryan had. They were the slightly larger version of the chairs the children used, but they weren’t large enough to accommodate Mr. Madej’s ridiculous height. The amusement, however, was lessened by the hint of anxiety present in the man’s face.

              Mr. Madej shifted once more before finally meeting Ryan’s gaze. “Alright, Mr. Bergara, um, tell me what seems to be the problem?”

              Ryan snorted. “You sound like you’re working in a doctor’s office. Also, you can call me Ryan.” He offered a smile, attempting to calm the other man’s nerves.

              “Ah, yeah, sorry. I’m not used to this whole thing, I guess. Brent has never been in trouble before.” Mr. Madej took a deep breath. “Oh, and, uh, I’m Shane.”

              _Shane._ Ryan made a mental note of that. “He’s really not in trouble, Mr. Ma- Shane.” Now it was Ryan’s turn to take a deep breath. He needed to ignore the adorable concerned look on Shane’s face and focus on the actual issue. Ryan shifted, straightening his back, and folded his hands, placing them on top of his desk. “Last week I received a call from a, uh, distressed parent. They raised some concern about stories that their children were hearing here, from, uh, Brent.”

              Shane appeared a little baffled. “So, Brent was telling stories? That’s why he’s in trouble?”

              “Well, again, he’s not in trouble. However, the nature of the stories was wildly inappropriate for a five-year-old, not to mention for him to be repeating them in the classroom.” Ryan explained.

              Shane was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t think he would repeat them.” He stated, in a shy voice.

              Ryan sighed. “I understand that, but again, those stories just are not appropriate for a child, period.” 

              Shane’s eyes widened. Looking closely, they appeared to have a glint of wetness in them. “I just… I work as a journalist, and those are the stories I write about. I was just trying to share what I do with Brent.”

              “I know. But children at that age cannot understand those concepts of death, demons, et cetera. They just don’t have the mental development to process it.”

              Shane continued to look more and more exhausted and upset as Ryan spoke. It made Ryan’s heart ache.        

 “Fuck,” Shane mumbled quietly, glancing over his shoulder at his son. “I just wanted to share something with him. I… I don’t have a lot of extra time to spare with him. I wish I did, but I don’t.” Shane’s eyes were beginning to truly fill with tears. “I already get someone else to drop him off and pick him up from school, and he already doesn’t think I’m a good dad… I’m trying my best, yah know? Doing this on your own is so fucking hard.” Shane breathed in hard through his nose and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, I know my incompetency isn’t your problem.”

“You’re not incompetent!” Ryan stated, a little more aggressively than he initially planned. “Being a single dad is hard. The fact that you’re trying at all is pretty cool.”

Shane gave Ryan a small smile.

That smile sent Ryan’s brain into a frenzy and made his mouth work faster than his brain. “You know,” He began. “If you need any extra help, you can always call me. I’m usually free once all the kids are picked up, and obviously I don’t work on weekends.”

Shane denied this effort to help, claiming he didn’t want to impose. However, Ryan was apparently committed. Thus, after a little more ‘single dad’ type banter, Ryan wrote down his name and number (as if he was hitting on Shane, but he was ignoring that factor) and reminded Shane to keep his stories to age appropriate levels with a teasing smile.

The tears on Shane’s face had dried up, and his face had changed into a bright smile. “Thank you, Ryan.” He stated, reaching his hand out for a handshake. Ryan accepted, ignoring the beat his heart skipped upon contact.

“Yeah, anytime.” And Ryan meant it.


End file.
